Japan

With a population of approximately 127,417,000, Japan is one of the most remarkable success stories in the post–World War II era. Shifting the focus from war-making to economic progress allowed Japan to become the second major industrial power in the world, outranked only by the United States. Unfortunately, along with industrialization and economic growth, Japan has also become a major environmental polluter. To offset this, the country has also become a leader in antipollution technology. In a 2006 study conducted by Yale University, Japan ranked 14th in environmental performance.

The quality of life in Japan is high, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Reports ranks the country 11th in overall quality of life. All Japanese have access to clean water and proper sanitation, and the amount of malnourishment in the country is negligible.

With only 4.6 percent of its population in agriculture, Japan is a major importer of food products. Despite the fact that they are small in number, Japanese farmers use more pesticides per acre than any other nation in the world. Local governments were assigned the responsibility for monitoring industrial and agricultural pollution until the mid-20th century, when major environmental fiascos called for greater national oversight. However, local governments retained the right to pass supplementary environmental legislation, which is often more rigid than national laws.

Japan is an island chain located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan. The topography is generally rugged and mountainous, and the climate varies from tropical to cool temperate. Japan is also a land of volcanoes, with some 1,500 seismic occurrences each year, along with typhoons and tsunamis that cause major flooding and environmental damage. Japan has suffered both politically and economically from a dearth of natural resources, possessing only fish and a few mineral deposits. Environmentally, Japan's major problems are air pollution from power plants that have caused acid rain and the acidification of lakes and reservoirs that have lowered the quality of drinking water and posed a hazard to marine life. In addition to threatening its own environment, Japan has been called an “eco-outlaw” because it creates major environmental problems in others nations, particularly through the depletion of tropical timber. Japanese industrialists have also set up businesses in countries such as Indonesia, Venezuela, and Brazil, where environmental laws are less strict. As a result, these countries have increased levels of pollution.

Almost 80 percent of the Japanese people live in urban areas. Consequently, Japan is responsible for 5.2 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, which are believed to be the major reason for global warming. In order to cut down on these emissions, the Japanese government has begun using low-emission vehicles for official use and has enacted the NOx (nitrogen oxides) law of 2001 that tightened pollution standards for diesel vehicles. Other attempts to control pollution include stricter standards for the use of pesticides and tighter control over the emission of nitrate nitrogen, fluorine, boron, and ammonia into water sources.

Japan's long history of organized environmental support began in the late 19th century, when locals discovered that the Ashio Copper Mine, 100 kilometers north of Tokyo, was releasing large clouds of sulfuric acid into the air and polluting the water of the Watarase River used by rice farmers. In addition to health problems, the pollution was destroying nearby forests. The Ashio Riot of 1907 lasted three days, culminating with miners setting fire to the mining complex. Martial law was subsequently declared to restore order. Environmental protests were revived in the 1960s due to high-profile lawsuits involving the cadmium poisoning of residents of Toyama, the mercury poisoning of the inhabitants of Minamata and Niigata, and high incidences of asthma caused by exposure to sulfur dioxide in Yokkaichi.

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